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India Knight: Nanny, junk the junk food

I’m not generally in favour of government poking its earnest little nose into the nation’s private habits: telling adults where they may smoke and where they may not, for instance, is the kind of prurient nannying that gets right on my nerves.

But I make an exception when it comes to children, which is why I hope that this week’s white paper on public health will address the question of junk food advertising targeted at kids head-on. (Research last week showed that the mere threat of such legislation had reduced the amount of such advertisements being shown around children’s programmes by 20%.) Three-quarters of the UK’s adult population is overweight, with 22% clinically obese; and around 20% of children are overweight, which is hardly surprising when you consider that many people think it quite natural to quench their children’s thirst with sugary, violently coloured fizzy drinks.